HCB Chapter 209 Army Reorganization
Chapter 209 Army Reorganization
The next day, Lu Bu and Jia Xu spent half a day learning about the current problems in Bingzhou from Du Ji, and the next day they summoned their civil and military officials to discuss the matter.
In the hall, the military generals' side was packed, and even divided into two rows it was still a bit crowded, but there were only a few civil officials, only Jia Xu and Du Ji.
Lü Bu looked at the disproportionate number of people on both sides, frowned slightly, and said to Wei Xu and others sitting in the back row of generals, "You guys take a seat on this side first."
Wei Xu and others stood up and moved the tables. After everyone was seated, Lu Bu glanced at the talented people in the room. Compared with his dream, there were more military generals such as Xu Rong, Hua Xiong, Han Lai and others. Among the civil officials, Jia Xu replaced Chen Gong, and there was another person who was good at governing the local area, Du Ji. It was a much stronger lineup than the original one, except that A Mo was missing.
Lu Bu said, "I discussed the Bingzhou issue with Wenhe and Bohou yesterday. Let's first resolve the issue of the military garrison!"
"Given Bingzhou's labor shortage, I intend to allow some of the county soldiers to return to farming, reorganize the troops we brought back this time, and dispatch them to various locations for garrisoning."
The combat effectiveness of the county soldiers was low, and they were completely unable to fight in the field except for defending the city. However, the county soldiers had to spend a lot of money on military expenditure every year.
Expenditure is one aspect, and the reduction in labor force and income caused by these soldiers not participating in labor is another loss. After the return of the Bingzhou Army and the joining of the Xiliang Army and part of the Luoyang Army, some county soldiers can be converted into garrison soldiers. They can farm and receive appropriate training in peacetime, and help defend the city when the enemy invades or the garrison needs to go out.
Lu Bu looked at Du Ji and said, "Wait for Zi Yan to compile the list and allocate some land to these soldiers, then I'll hand it over to you."
Du Ji bowed and said, "Yes!"
Lu Bu looked at the generals again and said, "With the troops returning this time, I intend to reorganize the military system. I will select brave and valiant men from each army and form the Flying Bear Army. This will be a mobile force. The tentative number is 3,000 cavalrymen. I will lead it directly, with Hua Xiong and Han Lai as my deputy generals."
In the dream, after Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, he selected brave men from various armies to form the Feixiong Army. In this life, Dong Zhuo handed over the military affairs to Lu Bu, and Lu Bu planned to set up this army after returning to Bingzhou.
The Feixiong Army is the elite selected from the elite, and the generals leading it must have excellent martial arts skills. As Lu Bu is now the lord of a state, there is no need for him to go into battle personally every time unless it is a major war. Therefore, he selected Hua Xiong and Han Lai, who have outstanding martial arts skills, as deputy generals.
Lü Bu continued, "The remaining troops will be reorganized into three armies: the Wolf Cavalry, the Bandit-Suppressing Army, and the Enemy-Suppressing Army. From now on, there will no longer be a distinction between the Bingzhou Army, the Xiliang Army, and the Luoyang Army. Do you have any objections?"
Everyone shook their heads in unison, "No objection!"
Among these troops, except for Xu Rong's Luoyang Army, which is not close to Lu Bu, the Bingzhou Army and Liangzhou Army are basically Lu Bu's direct soldiers, so they naturally have no opinion on Lu Bu. Moreover, now that everyone has come to Bingzhou, it is indeed inappropriate to call them Liangzhou Army and Luoyang Army.
Lü Bu had already made plans for the military reorganization on his way back from Mei County. He continued, "I propose a Wolf Cavalry force of 6,000 men, consisting of 5,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry. Wen Yuan will be the commander-in-chief, commanding the Yanmen Commandery. Cheng Lian, Hao Meng, and Wei Xu will serve as deputy commanders, stationed in Yanmen Commandery."
Yanmen County was close to the Southern Xiongnu and Xianbei, so this army had the largest number of troops and was mainly composed of cavalry, in order to be used to pacify the Southern Xiongnu in the future.
"The bandit-suppression army consists of 5,000 men, 1,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry. Zizheng will be the commander-in-chief, still serving as the commander of Taiyuan Commandery. Song Xian, Cao Xing, and Li Li will serve as deputy commanders, stationed in Taiyuan Commandery."
To the south of Taiyuan County is Baibo and to the east is Heishan. These two bandit armies are mostly infantry, and infantry combat is Gao Shun's strong point, so this army is mainly composed of infantry, and Li Li leads a thousand cavalry to assist.
"The expeditionary force consists of 3,000 men, 1,000 cavalry, and 2,000 infantry. Guangyao (Xu Rong's courtesy name) is the commander-in-chief and the commander of Xihe Commandery. Wu Shan and Hou Cheng are his deputy commanders, stationed in Xihe Commandery."
Xihe County is separated from Taiyuan and Yanmen by the Luliang Mountains and faces the Yellow River to the west. Only four counties in the south are left here, which is the easiest to defend, so the number of troops stationed there is the least.
Of course, no matter which army they are in, the basic treatment of soldiers of the same rank is the same. After the army moves to their respective garrisons, Lu Bu will fulfill his original promise to the soldiers and send people to Liangzhou to pick up their families and distribute houses and fields to them.
After Lu Bu finished speaking, he looked at everyone present and asked, "Do you have any objections?"
Although the army was reorganized, the names of the armies were simply changed. The soldiers originally led by each person were basically still led by each person. The only major change was that part of the Bingzhou infantry was assigned to Gao Shun, and Song Xian and Cao Xing were placed under Gao Shun's command.
As for Gao Shun, except for Han Lai, Wu Shan and Li Li who had originally followed Lu Bu in Liang Province, the others were not familiar with him, let alone knew him. Cheng Lian, Hao Meng and others from the former Bingzhou Army were somewhat dissatisfied with this arrangement, but Gao Shun was the commander of Taiyuan County at that time, and his official position was higher than theirs. In addition, the lord trusted and respected him very much, so although they were dissatisfied, they did not dare to raise any objection.
Everyone bowed in unison, "I have no objection!"
Zhang Liao hesitated, "My lord, there is already a commander at Yanmen. Would it be inappropriate for you to appoint me as the commander?"
The post of Duwei is an assistant to the county governor and must be appointed by the court. The salary is also paid by the court. Lu Bu, the governor of the province, has no power to appoint or dismiss him. Now Lu Bu has unilaterally stripped the Duwei of Yanmen and Xihe counties of their official positions and disbanded their troops without even meeting them. I am afraid this will cause dissatisfaction among many people.
As for Gao Shun's position as the commander of Taiyuan County, he was appointed by Dong Zhuo in the name of the court when he was in Luoyang. The same was true for Du Ji's position as the chief secretary, who was an official official of the state.
As the governor of the state, Lu Bu could only appoint and dismiss his subordinates, who were divided into six categories. I will not list them all here, but will simply give a few examples, such as Gongcao, Bingcao, Hucao, Shangjiqian, Zhubu, Shaofu, etc.
Seeing Lü Bu's immediate action, Du Ji was quite pleased. However, he followed Zhang Liao and asked, "My lord, aren't you being too hasty? He's offended people right after arriving. This might lead to something unexpected happening."
Lü Bu said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Wenyuan and Bohou. I now control all military affairs in Bingzhou. I will kill anyone who disobeys me until they submit. If it weren't for the incompetence of my subordinates, I would replace not only the captains but also the prefects as well."
Lu Bu had just read the information submitted by Du Ji. Except for the prefect of Xihe County who cooperated with Du Ji's work, the prefects of Taiyuan and Yanmen were both hypocritical. Taiyuan gave Du Ji face for the sake of the Wang family, but Yanmen County completely ignored him.
Lu Bu's move was to give the two prefects a warning. If they didn't obey, he would dare to kill the prefects next time.
Half a month ago, Yuan Shao had already taken Jizhou. Lu Bu did not have so much time to waste with these people. He had to sort out the political affairs, military affairs, and people's livelihood economy of these three counties as soon as possible to make the rear completely stable. Only then could he send troops to eliminate the bandits from all directions and incorporate the other counties of Bingzhou into his territory.
As for whether the court would send someone to accuse him of exceeding his authority as the governor, Lu Bu didn't care at all. The court was in chaos now, with various officials, Li Su, and Li Jue fighting for power. How could they have so much time to manage Bingzhou, a remote and poor place where various forces were mixed?
Du Ji was very satisfied with Lu Bu's tough attitude. He had met this lord only a few times and didn't know much about his character. He was afraid that this man looked strong on the outside but was actually indecisive and timid. If that happened, his enthusiasm would be dashed.
After arranging the military affairs, Du Ji bowed and said, "My Lord, the autumn harvest is over now. This is the first time you have collected taxes since coming to Bingzhou. Judging from the figures of previous years, these three counties will not be able to collect much grain. I think the land tax policy should be revised."
"Please tell me what you think, Lord Bo." Lu Bu didn't understand much about these things, and the only people he could rely on were Du Ji and Jia Xu.
Du Ji said, "Bingzhou's land is either controlled by powerful families or abandoned. There are few self-cultivating farmers, and the powerful families often conceal taxes. Therefore, the government cannot collect food. Without food, the government cannot absorb and resettle the people. As a result, the land remains abandoned and tax revenue remains low. If natural disasters or wars occur, the government will have no money or food to provide disaster relief. The few remaining self-cultivating farmers will either sell their land or flee, which will further increase the loss of taxes, and the government will become increasingly poor."
"Therefore, in my humble opinion, my lord, you should prioritize resolving the issue of hidden taxes and fees."
Du Ji said so much, and his meaning was very clear, which was to deduct grain from the big families to supplement the treasury, so as to absorb and resettle the people, reduce the waste of land, increase the number of self-cultivating farmers, and thus increase tax revenue.
Before Lü Bu could express his opinion, Jia Xu shook his head. "My lord, please put this aside for now. It would be best to wait for the young lady from the Wang family to return and then discuss this with her. I think it would be most appropriate for the future lord's wife to handle this matter."
"Why?" Lu Bu asked curiously, why do you let Amo do something that you, Jia Wenhe, can solve?
Jia Xu explained, "Of the three counties in Bingzhou, Taiyuan County occupies the largest land area and has the largest population. The Wang family is the largest family in Taiyuan County. The Jinyang Wang family and the Qixian Wang family are from the same lineage. If you want to take action against the powerful and aristocratic families, you will inevitably have to affect the interests of the Wang family. Even if you put aside personal feelings, it would be extremely unwise for you to go against the Wang family at this time."